Oakland police union calls Thao’s unhoused removal order ‘lastminute political stunt’
Sep 24, 2024
(KRON) -- The Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA) has responded to Mayor Sheng Thao’s executive order for city departments to fully remove people living in homeless encampments, enforcing the Encampment Management Policy.
The union said the act was a “last-minute political stunt” to sway voters in her favor before the vote on her recall on Nov. 5. The union also said Thao and the city council have “spent the last two years cutting and defunding the police to unsafe levels, and further cut staffing in this year’s budget.”
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According to the union, there have only been two officers assigned to the encampment unit. The police union said Thao and the city council slashed 34 police positions in budget cuts on July 2.
The vice president of the OPOA, Sgt. Tim Dolan, said the order will deprive Oakland residents of responding to their calls, which is already a long process.
“To carry out her alleged plan, it means that residents will see increased wait times for officers responding to 911 calls, which are already unacceptably long,” Dolan said. “It will mean significantly more overtime because the mayor and council have cut and defunded police that staffing levels are dangerously unsafe today.”